Dartmouth Square Plot

Week 42 - Bed 12

2007-10-21T10:41:00.000+01:00

We still have not planted any overwintering broad beans, but will do so next week.

Most of the parsnip foliage has fallen over onto the ground, but is still green and fresh. No doubt the roots have swelled quite a bit in the last few weeks of relatively good weather.

Week 42 - Bed 11

2007-10-21T10:37:00.000+01:00

Most of the beetroot that we sowed at the far end of the bed has come up, but apart from two well developed seedlings, there is no trace of the two patches of carrots that we sowed. We suspect slugs have eaten them. We will have to plant something else instead.

The flat leaf parsley is growing well, and we have harvested several handfuls already.

Week 42 - Bed 9

2007-10-21T10:28:00.000+01:00

The remaining calabrese plant in the foreground continues to send out bright yellow flowers.

In this photo of a sprouting broccoli plant from above, you can see the lean to the right, towards the light, and away from of a few trees to the north-east (top left) and the side wall of a house to the west (towards bottom of photo).

The Brussels sprouts plants are short, but healthy and are starting to produce the small buds that will form into sprouts in the next few months.

The three kale plants are relatively small as well, but seem healthy and will produce greens through the winter and into the spring.

Week 42 - Bed 8

2007-10-21T10:16:00.000+01:00

The area in the foreground has been cleared a circular pattern of all that kale seedlings and loose soil, and a number of hairs were found, identifying this spot the favorite place for a neighborhood cat.

The two sprouting broccoli continue to develop, but have grown in a particular direction, leaning out towards the sun.

The Savoy cabbage (left) and the red cabbage are both starting to firm up, indicating that they could be ready for harvesting, but we will wait a bit longer.

We harvested the largest of the Cour di Bue summer cabbages. Once the outer leaves are pulled off, many of which had suffered slug damage, the inner 'heart' is crisp, bright and delicious raw!

week 42 - Bed 7

2007-10-21T10:09:00.000+01:00

The winter radish that we sowed as a cover crop is growing very quickly, and was in need of thinning.

We do not expect to get large crop out of this crowded bed, but we will clear out most of the seedlings from a few areas to get some larger roots. We are going to try steaming the thinned greens for dinner.

Week 42 - Bed 5

2007-10-21T10:04:00.000+01:00

Some of the greens in this bed are doing well, but others have disappeared, like the rows of lettuce in the foreground. We suspect slugs are responsible!

The rocket/arugula (below) and purple mustard leaf (above) are growing quickly.

The Rhubarb chard is growing more slowly, but is in need of thinning.

Week 42 - Bed 4

2007-10-21T10:01:00.000+01:00

The peas have finally finished producing. The few bods that remain are covered with mould and the peas are starchy and inedible raw.

The dry vines and leaves form quite an attractive autumn screen.

Week 42 - Bed 3

2007-10-21T09:33:00.000+01:00

The unseasonably dry and mild weather that we have had for most of October has allowed the plants in this bed to continue to produce, though not as quickly as they would have in the warmth of the summer.

We have not been in the garden for 3 weeks and the few climbing french beans (or pole beans) that grew have produced a number of beans that are now too large to eat the pods. The Blauhilde variety above has beautiful purple pods, which unfortunately turn green when cooked.

The Eva climbing bean variety above produces a wide flat pod. We are going to leave the handful of beans to mature and harvest them as fresh plump seeds which are still tender and have not begun to dry, referred to as either flageolet or shelling beans.

There are quite a number of runner beans, but unfortunately, they too have grown large enough to become tough. We harvested them anyway in hopes that another crop would develop.

One fo the courgette plants has produced a number of reasonable size fruit. The slower growth of the late season has prevented any of them from turning into enormous marrows. The fruit is edible, though not be as tender as those that grow quickly n the heat of the summer.

Week 42 - Bed 2

2007-10-21T09:30:00.000+01:00

The plants in this bed are coming to an end, both of the remaining courgette plants have been struggling with disease for some time now.

We probably should have pulled this diseased plant out a while ago but we were interested to see how it would develop.

Week 42 - Bed 1

2007-10-21T09:27:00.000+01:00

The fine weather over the past month has allowed the sweetcorn to continue to grow.

The cobs seem to be ripening, but we don't expect much.

Week 39 - Bed 12

2007-09-30T19:08:00.000+01:00

We harvested all of the carrots from this bed and will remove the leeks, and in a few weeks we will plant some overwintering broad beans in the empty spaces.

The carrots are delicious!

The parsnip foliage from above - still growing strong.

Week 39 - Bed 11

2007-09-30T19:05:00.000+01:00

A healthy bunch of parsley, that will form part of a pasta dinner tonight.

The carrot seedlings have just emerged, it will be interesting to see if they can grow to a harvestable size in the next few months under the polytunnel.

The same goes for the beetroot seedlings.

Week 39 - Bed 9

2007-09-30T19:03:00.001+01:00

The one remaining calabrese plant continues to send out flowers, so we have decided to delay pullng it out.

Week 39 - Bed 8

2007-09-30T18:54:00.000+01:00

The kale seeds have sprouted, but there is a curious bare circle in the middle of the patch! It looks as though the topsoil and seeds were brushed away, perhaps by a cat playing in the freshly tilled soil.

The centre of each cabbage has a different shape and texture, but each is beautiful, especially the savoy cabbage above with water from an earlier rain shower still caught in the leaf ridges.

Week 39 - Bed 6

2007-09-30T18:50:00.000+01:00

The Italian ryegrass has sprouted and is growing quickly, and there are a few vetch seedlings (centre-right), but there is no sign of the crimson clover yet.

Week 39 - Bed 4

2007-09-30T18:47:00.000+01:00

The peas plants continue to turn brown, but the tops are still producing young peas.

This is the harvest from this week, not enough for dinner, and despite the mold most of these pods contain delicately sweet peas that are delicious raw, and best eaten right in the garden!

Week 39 - Bed 3

2007-09-30T18:40:00.000+01:00

The frost that hit much of the country this past week did not affect this back garden - one of the benefits of growing food in the city. If it had, everything in this bed would have been killed.

There are very few beans, and we are leaving a few to grow to produce seed.

A fine crop of runner beans for this week.

The Genovese Courgette plant is still small but ...

... each week produces a few small courgettes.

Week 39 - Bed 2

2007-09-30T18:33:00.000+01:00

The two remaining courgette plants in this bed continue to produce, but very slowly.

A few small but tender courgettes are harvested from the relatively small Genovese Courgette plant each week.

The Nero di Milano Courgette is looking a bit healthier and the young fruit are less mottled that they have been in the past few weeks.

Week 38 - Overview

2007-09-23T22:20:00.000+01:00

The garden is unusually empty for this time of year. The potatoes finished early, the beans are sparse, the squash plants have been removed, and we have had a number of failures, all of which has left a lot of empty soil. Bed 5 was planted with winter greens a few weeks ago and a green manure was broadcast over beds 6, 7 and 10. Last week the empty part of bed 11 was planted with a winter crop of carrots and beetroot, which will be covered with a polytunnel. This week we sowed clover as a undercrop in beds 1, 3, 8 + 9, which will hopefully establish under the current plants and will continue to grow after they are harvested. In the spring, all of the green manures will be dug into the soil to add fertility for the plants next year. If things go well, all of the beds will have either an edible or a composting crop growing in them over the winter, and in some cases both.

Week 38 - Bed 12

2007-09-23T22:17:00.000+01:00

We continue to munch away at the carrots - not sure if any will make it into storage - but the parsnip and leeks will not be harvested for another few months. There is empty space at the south end of the bed (bottom of photo) that we should plant something in, perhaps bread beans.

By carefully pulling away the soil around the base of the parsnip, we can see that the root has swolen to a reasonable size and will continue to grow until the cold of winter sets in. We will wait to harvest any until after a few frosts, as this will make the roots sweeter!

We will probably remove the leeks soon, as they will never reach a reasonable size, and replace them with overwintering broad beans. the other option is to sow broad bean seeds in between or beside the leeks, but we would have to be careful not to damage the seedlings when the leeks are finally removed.

Week 38 - Bed 11

2007-09-23T22:16:00.003+01:00

The carrots and beetroot have not sprouted in this bed yet.

The parsley is getting big and can be harvested now, but it will keep throughout the winter under a the protection of the mini-polytunnel.

Week 38 - Bed 9 Planting

2007-09-23T22:14:00.001+01:00

Most of the plants in this bed are doing well, but there are a few stunted plants, including the calabrese flowering in the foreground that could be removed. This could leave a bit of space to plant something else.
Over the entire bed, under all of these plants, we sowed:

White Clover - a low lying nitrogen fixing crop that is suitable for undersowing

The clover will grow where there is space under the brassicas for the next few months and will survive the winter. When the brassicas are finished and pulled out, the clover can remain until we are ready to sow into the bed next spring, at which time it can be dug in as a composting crop, adding fertility to the soil.

Three reasonable sized sprouting broccoli plants.

Two small Brussel sprout plants.

Three Pentland Brig Kale plants. This variety can grow quite big, but in the limited space, poor fertility and overshadowing of this back garden, we cannot expect too much.

Week 38 - Bed 8 Planting

2007-09-23T22:12:00.000+01:00

Some of the cabbages in this bed are doing well, but there are a few stunted plants, which could be removed to make space to plant something else - perhaps broad beans. The two sprouting broccoli plants in the foreground have reached a reasonable size. The Ragged Jack Kale seeds that we sowed last week have not sprouted yet. We gave all of the plants a watering with diluted worm tea from the neighbor's worm bin which will help to boost the growth for the rest of the season if the weather remains reasonable.

Underneath all of the cabbage plants we sowed:

White Clover - a low lying nitrogen fixing crop that is suitable for undersowing

The clover will grow where there is space and light for the next few months and will survive the winter. As the cabbages are harvested, the clover can remain until we are ready to sow into the bed next spring, at which time it can be dug in as a composting crop, adding fertility to the soil.

The largest of the winter cabbages is only starting to form a head.

The largest of the summer cabbages is firm and is probably ready to harvest. The other two plants are quite a bit smaller (especially the one to the top right of the photo) and will likely not produce anything, and can probably be pulled out when the large one is harvested if we wanted the space to plant something else.

The largest of the red drumhead cabbage plants has formed a small head. the other two plants are farther behind. The dark marks on the leaves are from our hands as we felt the firmness of the cabbage.

The largest of the savoy cabbage plants is looking great with the crinkled leaves, with a small head starting to form.

Week 38 - Bed 7

2007-09-23T22:11:00.000+01:00

The Long Black Radishes have sprouted, some areas are a bit thick and may need some thinning, while other areas are a bit too sparse. This is one of the issues with broadcasting seeds over a bed - especially late in the evening when there is little light to see what you are doing!

Week 38 - Bed 5

2007-09-23T22:07:00.000+01:00

Most of the rows of greens have sprouted, and the fact that the seeds were sown late in the evening when there was very little light is made evident by the uneven spacing and scattered seedlings! Most of the seeds were very small and hard to see.

Lettuce seedlings coming up.

Most of the mizuna seedlings, which look very similar to many other brassica seedlings, are unfortunately clumped in one small length of the row.

A lot of Winter Purslane seeds were sown, especially at one end of the bed, and will have to be thinned quite severely.

The spinach has sprouted quickly as well and the larger seeds helped to sow a more even spacing.

Week 38 - Bed 4

2007-09-23T22:06:00.001+01:00

Although the bottom half of most of the pea plants have dried and turned brown, the tops are still green and producing a steady crop of delicious peas.

Since last week a few of the plants have produced more flowers and small pods. These plants probably have had all of their older pods removed over the past few weeks and are desperately trying to produce some seed before the end of the season.

Week 38 - Bed 3 Planting

2007-09-23T22:03:00.000+01:00

The runner beans harvest has begun, and we picked a few handfuls of beans today.

The climbing french beans are producing pods, though some have already grown too large to eat. Unfortunately the yield is quite low on each plant (especially in comparison to the runner beans) and only a few plants of each variety survived. We would need at a dozen healthy plants or more to produce enough tender pods for a dinner.

The courgette plant looks healthy ...

... and is still producing a lot of fruit, but they are not growing as quickly as courgettes usually do. This is probably due to the overshadowing by a tree and the lower levels of fertility. We gave this plant a boos of fertility by watering it with diluted tea from a worm bin.

Over the entire bed, under the beans and courgettes we sowed:

White Clover - a low lying nitrogen fixing crop that is suitable for undersowing

The clover will grow where there is space and light for the next few months and when the courgettes and beans are killed back by the frosts, the clover will continue to grow slowly throughout the winter. If the weather is reasonable, the clover will fill the bed and can remain until we are ready to sow into the bed next spring, at which time it can be dug in as a composting crop, adding fertility to the soil, including lots of nitrogen.

Week 38 - Bed 2

2007-09-23T22:01:00.001+01:00

There is a fair amount of new growth on the Genovese Courgette, but the older leaves are in poor shape.

There is a remarkable number of young and immature flowers forming, and we have already picked 2 courgettes today.

The Nero di Milano Courgette does not look healthy, but it is still producing quite a number of new leaves and flowers.

When these plants are finished, we will add some fertility to the soil and plant some overwintering garlic, onions and peas.

Week 38 - Bed 1 Planting

2007-09-23T21:58:00.000+01:00

The sweetcorn continues to grow but some of the plants have fallen over - it looks like something fell onto them. We used a couple of bamboo canes to tie them up.

Throughout the entire bed we sowed:

Red Clover - a tall nitrogen fixing clover that is winter hardy and improves the soil texture

The clover will grow where there is space and light for the next few months and when the corn is finished, the clover will continue to grow slowly throughout the winter and into the spring. Prior to sowing or planting into the bed next spring, the clover will be dug in as a composting crop adding fertility to the soil, including lots of nitrogen, and improving the texture of the soil.

Week 37 - Bed 12

2007-09-16T23:12:00.000+01:00

The main crop carrots, parsnip and recently transplanted leeks are all that remain in this bed (apart from a few poppy plants and a lettuce plant that got away).

The carrots are looking (and tasting) good.

The leeks are not going to produce much - not enough fertility added to the late sowing and transplanting.

The parsnip tops are starting to fall over and take up quite a bit of space.

Week 37 - Bed 11 Planting

2007-09-16T23:11:00.000+01:00

This bed will be covered with a mini polytunnel when the weather turns cold and will hopefully provide tasty young carrots, beets and parsley during the winter. We added some compost to the empty section at the north end of this bed and sowed an equal area each of:

Boro F1 Beetroot - a hybrid variety with deep red internal colour, fine texture and taste
Nelson F1 Carrot - an early Nantes type hybrid variety which is tasty and sweet, deep orange with a straight tubular shape
Amsterdam Forcing 3 Carrot - an early variety that is very quick to mature, small cylindrical roots with a rich deep orange red colour and almost no core

Instead of planting in rows, each of these varieties were scattered over about 1/4 of the bed, and raked lightly to cover. We do not normally use hybrid F1 seeds but thought we would try some in this case.

The parsley is doing well and is ready to start harvesting.

Week 37 - Bed 9

2007-09-16T23:09:00.000+01:00

We have added some well rotted horse manure around the base of these winter brassicas to provide a boost of fertility for the rest of the season and into the spring.

Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli.

Darkmar 21 Brussels Sprouts

Pentland Brig Kale

Week 37 - Bed 8

2007-09-16T23:08:00.000+01:00

The transplanted cabbages and sprouting broccoli plants are doing reasonably well, though some better than others. We added a few handfuls of well rotted horse manure around the base of each of the plants to give a fertility boost for the remainder of the season.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli growing well.

The head of the Cour di Bue Cabbage starting to form.

Vertus Savoy Cabbage also starting to form a head which will not be ready until winter.

The head of the Red Drumhead Cabbage is starting to form but it is smaller than expected and will not produce a large cabbage.

Week 37 - Bed 5

2007-09-16T23:05:00.000+01:00

The new seedbed with a few of the seedlings just starting to emerge.

Tiny mustard seedlings.

Week 37 - Bed 4

2007-09-16T23:04:00.000+01:00

The climbing peas are still producing, but are quite uncontrolled and overshadowing the newly planted seedbed in bed 5, so we tied the the trellis back. The beans are basically finished so there is nothing left to overshadow in bed 4.

There are still many young pea pods, but no more flowers.

Week 37 - Bed 3

2007-09-16T23:03:00.000+01:00

The beans that survived the first few weeks, have grown past the top of the supports and are now starting to produce - 13 weeks after sowing.

The Eva variety of french bean has produced a number of long oval pods.

A few of the runner beans are large enough to harvest.

The Genovese courgette plant is growing well and starting to produce fruit 10 weeks after direct seeding.

The fruit on the left still has the flower attached and was (hopefully) pollinated yesterday and will be ready to harvest within a week. The one in the middle with the rotten end was not sufficiently pollinated and has been aborted by the plant. The fruit on the right is just right.

The yellow courgette plant is not doing as well.

Week 37 - Bed 2

2007-09-16T23:02:00.000+01:00

The two remaining courgette plants have continued to grow and from a distance look healthy.

The light colored Genovese Courgette continues to produce a lot of fruit, and is reasonably healthy.

The darker fruited Nero di Milano Courgette still has a lot of mould on its older leaves, but the recent growth of younger leaves is less affected.

The Fruit seems to be affected by the mosaic virus, but the leaves are not showing clear symptoms. This plant will likely need to be removed and destroyed.

Week 37 - Bed 1

2007-09-16T22:51:00.001+01:00

The sweetcorn continues to grow well, with some of the plants reaching almost 180cm.

The tassels have opened to release the pollen.

The ears are starting to form with the silk exposed ready to catch the drifting pollen.

The squash plant has been infected by a Squash Mosaic Virus, which has severely stunted the plant and distorted the leaves. This is not surprising given the poor soil conditions that it was growing in. We should have given this plant a lot more compost! The plant will have to be removed!

Week 36 - Bed 10 Planting

2007-09-04T23:10:00.000+01:00

We finally cleared out this bed and prepared a seedbed into which we scattered a variety of green manure seeds:

Italian Ryegrass - a fast growing hardy grasing grass which will produce a lot of biomass
Crimson Clover - a quick growing, vigourous annual which fixes nitrogen and will attracts bees in the spring
Winter Vetch - a hardy nitrogen fixing forage plant

This combination of green manures is know as the "Landsberger Mix" and is promoted as the ideal overwintering composting crop, producing a lot of organic material, adding nitrogen to the soil and keeping soil and nutrients from washing away with the winter rains, and preparing the soil for next season. The crop will be dug into the soil next spring to compost in place.

Week 36 - Bed 8 Planting

2007-09-04T23:08:00.000+01:00

We prepared a seedbed in the empty area at the south end of the bed and broadcast:

Ragged Jack Kale - an old, beautiful variety with purplish stalks, deeply serrated leaves and is very winter hardy

This sowing is an experiment. We have plenty of home saved seed from another garden and are hoping that these will produce numerous small but delicious plants that can be eaten throughout the winter. If not at least it will serve as a cover crop until ready to plant in the spring.

Week 36 - Bed 7 Planting

2007-09-04T23:07:00.000+01:00

We pulled up the remaining radishes, cleared the rest of the bed of a few weeds, prepared a seedbed and sowed:

Long Black Radish - a Spanish winter radish variety

These seeds were broadcast over the entire bed and any that we do not eat will serve as a green manure for next year.

Week 36 - Bed 6 Planting

2007-09-04T23:06:00.000+01:00

We cleared out this bed and prepared a seedbed into which we scattered a variety of green manure seeds:

Italian Ryegrass - a fast growing hardy grasing grass which will produce a lot of biomass
Crimson Clover - a quick growing, vigourous annual which fixes nitrogen and will attracts bees in the spring
Winter Vetch - a hardy nitrogen fixing forage plant

This combination of green manures is know as the "Landsberger Mix" and is promoted as the ideal overwintering composting crop, producing a lot of material for the compost, adding nitrogen to the soil and keeping soil and nutrients from washing away with the winter rains.

Week 36 - Bed 5 Planting

2007-09-04T23:05:00.000+01:00

We dug up the last of the potatoes, mixed in about 40 liters of well rotted horse manure and prepared a fine seed bed into which we sowed one short row each of (listed from North to South):

Matador (Atlanta) Spinach - all year round variety with dark green leaves
Perpetual Spinach (Leaf Beet) - a beet variety with leaves resembling spinach which can provide valuable greens throughout the winter
Rhubarb Chard - rich ruby-red leaf stalks and dark green/purple foliage
Mizuna - a hardy vigorous oriental green leaf with serrated dark green leaves with a mild, slightly mustard flavour
Winter Purslane - a winter hardy salad plant, also known as Claytonia or Miners Lettuce
Corn Salad D'Orlando - a hardy annual, small nutty leaves, large leaved variety with glossy green leaves
Osaka Purple Mustard - a very hardy oriental mustard leaf, large deep purple/green leaves
Rucola Coltivata Rocket/Arugula - a refined variety with rich dark leaves and wonderful spicy taste
Roger Lettuce - red batavia variety
All Year Round Lettuce - a pale green compact butterhead variety
Till Lettuce - dense looseleaf variety with arrow shaped leaves
Salad Bowl Lettuce - cut and come again looseleaf lettuce, with long green leaves

This bed containing a wide variety of leafy greens will be covered with a mini polytunnel when the weather turns cold.

Week 35 - Bed 12 Planting

2007-08-28T23:12:00.000+01:00

A healthy and delicious bunch of early carrots that have been harvested.
The leeks were then transplanted into the space the carrots (and lettuce) had occupied.

The parsnip tops are continuing to grow quite large, and may need to be thinned a bit more.

The volunteer poppy is in bloom.

Week 35 - Bed 11

2007-08-28T23:11:00.001+01:00

The fennel has started to bolt, producing an elongated stem to support the flowers, instead of swelling into a bulb at the base. Not sure if this is do to the poor conditions of the soil or the bad weather, likely both. We pulled out all of the fennel plants to make room for another sowing.

A reasonable onion harvest, but not enough to bother drying for storage. In order to produce well, onions need a lot of fertility. This bed is now cleared of everything except the parsley, and we will sow some more seeds next week.

Week 35 - Bed 9

2007-08-28T23:09:00.000+01:00

One of the broccoli plants has produced a head and flowered since we were last at the garden 2 weeks ago, tis crop needs to be harvested promptly.

The Brussels Sprouts are growing well and untouched by any pest, apart from some early slug damage to the lower leaves.

One of the kale plants from above.

Week 35 - Bed 8

2007-08-28T23:08:00.000+01:00

All of the cabbages in this bed are doing well, though small for this time of year, and there have been no sign of any caterpillars.
Vertus Savoy Cabbage

Red Drumhead Cabbage

Holland Late Winter Cabbage

The Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli plants are also growing well considering the late transplanting.

Week 35 - Bed 7

2007-08-28T23:07:00.000+01:00

The radishes have grown considerably in the last 4 weeks, and we have started harvesting a few, but there is no sign of any swede.

Week 35 - Bed 4

2007-08-28T23:04:00.000+01:00

The climbing peas have grown past the top of the supports (190cm tall).

There are many flowers ...

... and the first peas are ready to eat - 12 weeks after sowing!

The bush beans are also ready, it is a shame that so few plants survived.

This plant continues to be eaten, all of the flower buds are gone.

Week 35 - Bed 3

2007-08-28T23:03:00.000+01:00

The young courgette plant s doing well and the flowers are starting to form.

Week 35 - Bed 2

2007-08-28T23:02:00.000+01:00

The Genovese Courgette has produced a number of fruits but remains quite small, and it has significant amount of white powdery mould on its leaves

The large Nero di Milano Courgette plant has been quite prolific, including a few marrow sized fruit, and also has mould on its leaves.

Mould is fairly common on courgettes and probably developed due to the deficient nutrient quality of the soil and the recent lack of rain.

The yellow courgette is not looking good at all and seems to be affected by a mosaic virus.

The distorted skin of fruit also points to a mosaic virus. This plant will probably not survive and should be pulled out to prevent infection spreading to the other courgettes.

Week 35 - Bed 1

2007-08-28T16:56:00.000+01:00

The sweetcorn continues to grow well, there might be hope for a few cobs if the good weather continues.

The tassels (male flower which produces the pollen) is starting to form.

The squash plant is not growing very quickly, which is likely due to nutrient deficiency given the poor fertility of the soil.

A few of the squash leaves show are yellowing, a sign of nitrogen deficiency.

Week 31 - Bed 12

2007-07-31T23:12:00.000+01:00

Most of this bed has grown well aver the past month of rain, though the lighter feeding plants are doing better than the others.

The tops of the main crop carrots are growing well, and need to be thinned a bit more.

The 11 week old main crop carrot on the left is significantly larger than the 14 week old early carrot on the right! The different weather conditions during sowing seem to have made a lot of difference.

The parsnip plants are growing well.

The lettuce is in need of harvesting. Note the volunteer poppy plant in the middle of the photo.

The leek seedlings are growing very slowly, there is not enough fertility in the ground for them.

Week 31 - Bed 11

2007-07-31T23:11:00.000+01:00

This bed has developed quite a bit over the last month.

The slow growing flat leaf parsley is finally starting to produce.

The bulb fennel is fairly strong and in need of thinning.

The shallots are ready for harvest.

The onions are almost finished.

Week 31 - Bed 10

2007-07-31T23:10:00.000+01:00

After a month of neglect and rain, the plants in this bed are in poor shape. The surrounding vegetation is certainly doing better.

One of the only lettuce plants that has reached any size next to a few very small onions. We will have to replant this bed.

Week 31 - Bed 9

2007-07-31T23:09:00.000+01:00

Four weeks after transplanting the brassicas are doing reasonably well. The very wet weather has helped the transplants become established, but has prevented them from growing very quickly.

One of the broccoli plants has produced the central edible head, but it is a shame that the plants had not grown larger before flowering.

The kale plant is well established.

We harvested the remaining turnip, which have become quite large, to give more space for the other plants.

Week 31 - Bed 8

2007-07-31T23:08:00.000+01:00

The Cabbages are growing well, but the peas have finished producing and died back. They were removed to make room for more transplants of kale plants (not shown) that were left over in the seedbed.

Cour di Bue Summer Cabbage looking healthy but not large enough to start forming a head.

the beautiful colour of the Red Drumhead Cabbage.

Week 31 - Bed 7

2007-07-31T23:07:00.001+01:00

Over the past month of rain, the vegetation surrounding this bed, and much of the rest of the garden has grown significantly, but the contents of the bed have not. The radishes have come up, though perhaps not as big as expected, and here is only one small swede seedling at the far end of the bed.

Radish seedlings.

Week 31 - Bed 6

2007-07-31T23:06:00.000+01:00

This bed is starting to decline and looks remarkably different from when we were last at the garden a month ago. The potatoes have died back, the beans are almost finished and the peas really have not produced anything.

The potatoes should have continued to grow for at least another month, but were killed off probably by a combination of the very wet weather and possibly blight.

Week 31 - Bed 5

2007-07-31T23:05:00.000+01:00

This bed has changed considerably since the last post at the beginning of July. The potatoes have died back (probably due to a combination of wet weather and possibly blight) and the broad beans are basically finished.

Rust and dead patches have formed on all of the bean leaves, and the plants have been pulled out.

A reasonable harvest of well formed potatoes from 2 plants, which are unaffected by scab or slugs.

Week 31 - Bed 4

2007-07-31T23:04:00.000+01:00

This bed has become very overshadowed by the abundant growth to the left against the wall. Most of the bush bean plants have failed to survive - possibly slugs that are hiding in the neighboring vegetation.

The bean plants that did survive are starting to flower.

The tall climbing peas are growing well but have not started to flower.

Week 31 - bed 3

2007-07-31T23:03:00.000+01:00

The runner beans and climbing french beans are starting to climb, though many of the bean plants failed to survive.

A climbing french bean plant starting to spiral up the support.

Two runner bean plant sharing a support cane.

The courgette seedlings are doing well - three plants out of 4 seeds sown. It is time to thin to the strongest plant, which seems to be the one in the foreground.

Week 31 - Bed 2

2007-07-31T23:02:00.000+01:00

The squash plant that used to occupy the south part of the bed (space in the foreground of photo) has disappeared without a trace! The courgette plants have grown reasonably well considering the wet summer so far, and are starting to fruit.

The Genovese Courgette is a smaller plant but still has several light skinned fruit forming.

The Nero di Milano Courgette is a larger plant with the first dark skinned fruit forming.

The Yellow Straightneck Courgette is not as strong and the fruits are starting to form.

Week 31 - Bed 1

2007-07-31T16:20:00.000+01:00

After a month of rain and very little sun, this bed is doing reasonably well, except that one of the squash plants is missing (not visible even in the blurry photo) as are the direct seeded courgettes among the sweet corn. I suspect slugs had a feast during the three weeks that no-one was watching the garden!

The sweetcorn is taler than expected, given the incredibly poor weather conditions over the last month. There was certainly enough water, but not nearly enough sun.

The Butternut Squash plant looks healthy, though a bit small for this time of year, and it has plenty of room to grow with the Blue Ballet Squash plant missing.

Week 27 - Bed 12

2007-06-30T14:53:00.000+01:00

The bed has opened up with the spinach and rocked pulled up. The 7 week old main crop carrot seedlings on the left appear to be doing better than the 10 week old early carrots on the right. This might be due to the earlier overshadowing by the spinach and rocket, or it might be due to the dry conditions of the bed when the early carrots were sown.

The two types of lettuce are growing well and in need of thinning (where the slugs have not already done the job). Note the beer trap for slugs in the background.

The early carrots are going to need to be thinned some more.

Week 27 - Bed 11

2007-06-30T14:50:00.001+01:00

All of the alliums (onion, garlic and shallots) are doing well, as are the fennel and parsley seedlings in the foreground.

The 7 week old bulb fennel seedlings needing to be thinned.

Week 27 - Bed 10

2007-06-30T14:50:00.000+01:00

This bed continues to do poorly, but given how much it is overshadowed in the early afternoon, this is not surprising. Poor weather and fertility were also contributing factors. In a few weeks we will add fertility to the bed and plant some fast growing salad crops.

Week 27 - Bed 9 Planting

2007-06-30T14:47:00.000+01:00

We dug up all of the brassica transplants out of this bed and selected the healthiest plants for transplanting back into the bed at wider spacing, keeping in mind that the turnip will likely be harvested within the next few weeks.

We transplanted three plants of each vegetable, listed from foreground to background in the photo above (south to north):

Waltman Calabrese Broccoli - autumn maturing variety, with a small central head followed by large number of side shoots
Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli - early variety producing many purple spears from early March
Darkmar 21 Brussels Sprouts - a early variety producing large, dark green sprouts in Oct-Dec
Pentland Brig Kale - a very frost hardy and heavy cropping leafy winter veg with a distinct flavour, with leafy side shoots and spears like broccoli

There were many transplants left over, some of which immediately went to another garden and a few were temporarily heeled in to save them in case space became available in a neighboring garden - see the clump in the foreground of the photo above.

The weather conditions were damp, cool and overcast when we transplanted the young plants, but the sun came out shortly after and the plants stated to wilt because the disturbed roots could not suck up the amount of water that the plant needed. These plants will recover with a good watering and will be helped by the cool wet conditions that are forecast.

We sowed significantly more brassica plants that we had space for, We could have sowed only a half row of each and still had enough. The remaining mix of brassica seedlings that we did not have space for were steamed for dinner!

Week 27 - Bed 8

2007-06-30T14:46:00.000+01:00

A view of this bed from the south showing the peas in the foreground, which have completely outweighed their flimsy supporting sticks, but are still producing, and the newly transplanted cabbage behind. We finally cleared the paths of grass/sod.

The cabbage transplants are doing well, helped by the abundant moisture and lack of scorching sun!

Week 27 - Bed 7 Planting

2007-06-30T14:45:00.000+01:00

We finally dug and prepared this bed as a deep lazy bed with extra sod from the paths chopped up under the soil. This bed is slightly smaller than the others because of some large slate slabs at one end. In the prepared seedbed, we planted two winter storage roots from the brassica family:

China Rose Radish (20 stations, 2 seeds each) - long rose pink roots with pure white flesh which can be harvested in autumn and stored if required
Magres Swede (24 stations, 3 seeds each) - a purple top variety of this hardy winter root vegetable

The Swede is usually called a turnip or a swede turnip in Ireland and it is known as a rutabaga in North America.

Week 27 - Bed 6

2007-06-30T14:44:00.000+01:00

This bed is growing well, with the potatoes looking healthy and the broad beans are finally producing a lot of flowers.

This photo shows the polycrop mix of peas in the top foreground starting to form pods, the broad beans in the background and the potato leaves at the bottom.

Week 27 - Bed 5

2007-06-30T14:41:00.000+01:00

This bed has the lushest growth in the garden, with the tall broad beans to the south and the early potatoes to the north.

Very few pods on the otherwise tall and healthy broad bean plants.

The beans are almost ready for harvest, only another week or two before the (tiny harvest).

The early potatoes are ready to harvest and we dug up a few plants for dinner! The yield from the remaining plants will increase over the next few weeks, as there are still several small tubers that will continue to grow.

Week 27 - Bed 4

2007-06-30T14:40:00.000+01:00

The peas and beans are growing well for the most part, even though the bed becomes overshadowed during the afternoon.

The climbing peas starting to grow beyond the first line of the support frame.

Week 27 - Bed 3 Planting

2007-06-30T14:39:00.000+01:00

In the empty space at the north end of the bed (far end in the photograph below) we planted:

Genovese Courgette (4 seeds at one station) - a pale, early variety with fine lightly mottled green fruit
Yellow Straightneck Courgette (4 seeds at one station) - an early maturing yellow variety with smooth yellow fruits

These plants will produce later in the season.

Bean seedlings can be seen at the base of some of the bamboo poles.

A healthy climbing french bean seedling, one of only a few.

Week 27 - Bed 2

2007-06-30T14:37:00.000+01:00

The bed photographed from the south has a lot of room for the courgette and squash plants to grow.

The Nero di Milano courgette plant (second from the north end of the bed) is doing well and there is noticeable growth since last week.

A closeup of the center of the courgette plant shows the small flower buds starting to forms.

The Yellow Straightneck courgette at the north end of the bed is noticeably paler.

Week 27 - Bed 1

2007-06-30T14:36:00.000+01:00

The sweetcorn and the squash plants have become established and continue to grow but not as quickly as would be expected for this time of year, due to the continuing bad weather. One of the courgette seedlings that we planted between the corn has been eaten by slugs. Notice the overshadowing of the north end of the bed in this photograph taken in the early afternoon.

We will need some very good weather for the rest of the summer to get any crop of sweetcorn at all.

Week 26 - Overview

2007-06-26T19:48:00.000+01:00

Some of the plants are doing well, and others are struggling. After the drought of March and April, the garden is now saturated! There was no rain today, but in the past 7 days, we have had over 52mm of rain - as much as we would normally expect in the whole month - including a downpour of over 24mm last Tuesday when we aborted the class!

This map of Ireland from the Met Éireann web site shows the amount of rainfall for the past week as a percentage of what we would normally expect (the garden is located in Dublin at the middle of the east coast - close to the 416% figure). It has been a very rainy period with only 1/3 of the sunshine that we would normally expect.

This diagram show how much rainfall would be needed to provide the soil with as much water as it could hold (without draining excess away). With a figure of 2mm, any more rain will start to saturate the soil, affecting plant growth. Luckily there is better weather on the way - though not great for this time of year.

Week 26 - Bed 12

2007-06-26T19:40:00.000+01:00

Many of the lettuce plants have been thinned out by slugs - a job we should have done earlier.

Parsnip seedlings doing well enough to shelter the large garden slug (which was promptly dispatched after the photo was taken).

The Rocket/Arugola has bolted (gone to seed) and we cleared out all of the plants to make room to plant something else. The edible leaves will make a fiery topping to a pasta dish tonight!

The spinach has never well and plants that did grow have all bolted, and were pulled out as well.

Week 26 - Bed 11

2007-06-26T19:37:00.000+01:00

The shallots are doing well and starting to form bulbs. The rest of the plants in this bed are growing reasonably well.

Week 26 - Bed 10

2007-06-26T19:35:00.000+01:00

This bed has done very poorly. the only thing growing at all are the onions which have failed to even reach the size of salad onions/scallions. We will replant this bed in the next few weeks.

Week 26 - Bed 9

2007-06-26T19:31:00.000+01:00

We cleared out all of the radishes (which would be too big by next week) thinned the turnip and cleared as much of the bed as we could to make room for the brassica transplants next week. The Kohl Rabi never became established.

Beautifully coloured Red Drumhead Cabbage seedlings ready to transplant.

Week 26 - Bed 8 Planting

2007-06-26T19:20:00.000+01:00

We decided to give up on the beetroot and chard, and cleared them from the bed - besides we needed the space for the brassica transplants that are getting too big in Bed 9. We mixed in a few handfuls of dried seaweed fertilizer and transplanted 4 types of cabbages (listed from south to north):

Holland Late Winter Cabbage (3 plants) - large, white, solid, hardy variety
Cour di Bue Summer Cabbage (3 plants) - large pointed heart variety, maturing in early autumn, light green in colour
Red Drumhead (Cabeza) Cabbage (3 plants) - large, solid, ball shaped, deep red variety to harvest from summer to autumn
Vertus Savoy Cabbage (3 plants) - medium late variety with round flattish heads, medium green, well curled and frost hardy

View from the north end of the bed showing the 12 cabbage transplants, with the peas at the south end of the bed.

Week 26 - Bed 8

2007-06-26T19:18:00.000+01:00

The peas are starting to produce, but the weight of the plants, helped by the heavy rains, have been too much for the small 'pea sticks' that we had stuck in the ground for the peas to climb up. This has created a mass of pea plants instead of 4 neat rows where all of the peas are easy to see and pick.

The peas are so sweet and tender, a real treat for the gardeners.

The beetroot and chard continue to do poorly, and the rhubarb chard is starting to 'bolt' - produce a seed head - which will further reduce the quality of the leaves. We really failed to provide the right conditions for these plants.

Week 26 - Bed 6

2007-06-26T19:16:00.000+01:00

The 'Maris Peer' Potatoes are starting to flower!

Week 26 - Bed 5

2007-06-26T19:12:00.000+01:00

The broad beans are starting to swell and could be ready for harvesting next week! Unfortunately there are not many beans on each plant, usually less than 4 and the plants have stopped flowering, so we are not going to harvest more than a sampling. This is probably due to a lack of pollinators as there are not many bees around.

Week 26 - Bed 4 Planting

2007-06-26T19:04:00.000+01:00

The dwarf french beans are doing well - at least those that made it out of the ground and escaped being eaten by some unknown creature! We sowed some more seeds 'Hildora' and 'Maxi' varieties to fill in the gaps in the planting. In several places, both of the seeds that were planted came up and one will need to be thinned but we thought we would wait until next week gust in case the mysterious herbivore returns.

The climbing peas are doing well - most of the seeds deem to have germinated and are starting to reach for support.

We constructed a frame out of bamboo canes and used twine to create a rough climbing frame. In reasonable conditions, these peas could grow to over 2m tall!

Week 26 - Bed 3 Planting

2007-06-26T18:56:00.000+01:00

None of the beans in this bed are doing well, which is not surprising given the cold wet weather that we have had since they were sowed 2 weeks ago. Only a few of the seedlings have emerged, and many of them are looking very poor, or have been eaten. In order to make sure that we get a full crop, we resowed all of the runner beans and three varieties of climbing french beans. We also built a 'tipi' for the french beans and an 'X-frame' for the runner beans using 240cm long bamboo poles and cut up strips of an old rubber inner tube from a bicycle.

Week 26 - Bed 2

2007-06-26T18:52:00.000+01:00

This is the healthiest of the courgette plants, the others are still suffering from being transplanted too late (not to mention the bad weather).

Week 26 - Bed 1

2007-06-26T18:45:00.000+01:00

The sweetcorn is doing well, we thinned out all but the strongest seedling at each station. This photo also shows one of the courgette seedlings that has come up from a few direct sown seeds that we placed in amongst the sweetcorn.

This is the same squash plant that was photographed in Week 23, and is doing well considering the bad weather and recent transplanting. It really is much better to transplant this family of plants early - or direct seed.

Week 25 - Overview

2007-06-19T21:04:00.000+01:00

We only just got to the garden this week and barely started digging the last of the beds when it started to really rain, so we ended up leaving early. Although the garden needed the watering, it did prevent any planting or photographs.

Week 24 - Bed 3 Planting

2007-06-12T18:50:00.000+01:00

We dug most of this bed this week, using a more thorough lazy-bed method, and sowed:

Enorma Runner Bean (2 parallel rows half the length of the bed) - a heavy cropping variety with long smooth, stringless pods and red flowers.
Neckargold Climbing French Bean (2 stations) - high yield medium-late variety, with long round yellow beans.
Eva Climbing French Bean (3 stations) - an early variety with long oval blue-green pods.
Blauhilde Climbing French Bean (3 stations) - maincrop variety with long oval purple pods.

Poles will be added to make a tipi for the climbing french beans and a linear 'X' frame for the runner beans. About a quarter of the bed remains empty.

Week 23 - Bed 1 Planting

2007-06-05T20:20:00.000+01:00

We cultivated this bed this week, using a more thorough lazy-bed method. We had planned to use a no-dig method, but did not get around to doing it early enough in the season to allow the mulch to settle in and start to decompose. Once prepared, we planted:

Golden Bantam Sweetcorn (18 stations covering half the bed) - very good variety if harvested in time, with a nice sweet flavour.
Ponca Butternut Squash (one 3 week old transplant from pot) - an early winter variety with thick necked fruit and pale carmel skin.
Blue Ballet Squash (one 4 weeks old transplant from pot ) - a soft blue-grey skined variety with sweet orange flesh.

A three week old butternut squash plant, just transplanted.

Week 23 - Bed 2 Planting

2007-06-05T20:10:00.000+01:00

Four planting stations had been prepared the previous week, mixing in compost, with the rest of the bed remaining un-cultivated, but covered with cardboard (which has been in place for several months. A layer of horse manure was spread over the entire bed and then this was covered with one year old autumn leaves. Into the four prepared stations we transplanted 4 week old plants that had been started in pots:

Red Uchiki Kuri Squash - a medium size winter variety with brilliant orange, tear drop shape smooth flesh fruit with sweet nutty taste.
Genovese Courgette - a pale, early variety with fine lightly mottled green fruit.
Nero di Milano Courgette - a dark green lightly mottled variety.
Yellow Straightneck Courgette - an early maturing yellow variety with smooth yellow fruits.

A four week old courgette plant, just transplanted.

Week 23 - Bed 4 Planting

2007-06-05T20:00:00.000+01:00

This bed was prepared last week as a lazy bed, and in it we planted:

Table Talk Climbing Peas (one long row along edge of bed) - a variety that can grow up to 2 meters tall on good soil, with large full fat pods of tasty sweet peas which can be eaten fresh or dry.
Maxi Dwarf French Bean (25% of the bed) - an early variety with medium green pods and good disease resistance.
Hildora Dwarf French Bean (25% of the bed) - an early maincrop variety with yellow round oval pods of up to 14cm in length.
Saxa Dwarf French Bean (25% of the bed) - an old variety with early light green round pods, suitable for colder climates.

A frame and netting will need to be constructed to support the peas.

Week 23 - Bed 5

2007-06-05T19:50:00.000+01:00

Express broad beans eleven weeks after sowing, with early potatoes in the background.

Express broad bean flowers.

Week 23 - Bed 6

2007-06-05T19:40:00.000+01:00

Polycrop in bed 6 with peas visible in the bottom left, broad bean to the right of center and potato in the background.

Week 23 - Bed 8

2007-06-05T19:30:00.000+01:00

Meteor dwarf peas eleven weeks after sowing.

Pea pods starting to form.

The variable growth of the beetroot scattered in one section of bed 8, eight weeks after sowing. Many of these beetroot plants seem stunted, and although they need thinning, the plants with plenty of space are not doing any better. The leaves of this variety are normally a much brighter green.

Rhubarb Chard eight weeks after sowing. This is the healthiest plant, the others are not growing well, and several did not even germinate.

Week 23 - Bed 9

2007-06-05T19:20:00.000+01:00

Kale seedlings six week after sowing.

Six week old turnips needing thinning.

Week 23 - Bed 11

2007-06-05T19:10:00.000+01:00

Tiny 3 week old fennel seedlings.

Nine week old garlic.

Nine week old shallots starting to separate into individual bulbs.

Week 23 - Bed 12

2007-06-05T19:00:00.000+01:00

Six week old early carrot seedlings.

Two types of lettuce at six weeks old.

6 week old rocket plants almost ready to start harvesting.

Parsnip seedlings just starting to form after 3 weeks.